BIOGRAPHY - Page 6
During the events of the X-Cutioner's Song, Xavier was shot in the head and infected with a techno-virus by the madman Stryfe. Along with Moira MacTaggert, Beast tried to cure Xavier in various ways, but none worked. Only with the help of the immortal mutant Apocalypse were they able to save Xavier and cure him of the techno-virus. However, before he died, Stryfe released into Earth's atmosphere his Legacy Virus, a disease which attacks the x-factor gene in a mutant's DNA, causing their powers to rage out of control before it kills them.
Watching younger teammates like Rogue and Gambit, Hank was reminded of the days when he was around their age. Now turning thirty, he questioned what he had achieved in his life. [X-Men (2nd series) #19]
Professor Xavier and Moira MacTaggert excluding him from their Legacy research only added to his doubts, yet it turned out that Xavier had sensed Hank’s inner troubles and only wanted to provide him with some time for privacy. After Illyana Rasputin died of the virus, Hank took a look at the data acquired by Xavier and Moira and had to discover that the Legacy Virus was more complicated than he at first thought. So far, Hank had always believed he could solve any problem, given time. [X-Men (2nd series) #24]
Beast continued to search for a cure to the virus, and even made unethical decisions, such as allowing Sinister control of a young mutant named Threnody, who could sense the Legacy Virus's effects. Beast made this decision because Sinister had more resources to work with, as well as less morals, giving him more of a chance than the X-Men to cure the virus. However, using information provided from their captive Sabretooth, Beast led a team of X-Men into Sinister's stronghold to check on his Legacy data, which Threnody provided for them. [X-Men (2nd series) #27, 34]
Somehow, Trish Tilby, received a large amount of information dealing with the Legacy Virus and decided that she would release it to the public on her news station, CBNC without speaking to Hank first. Although still dating the pair hadn't seen each other properly in months, Hank Felt betrayed and hurt by what she had done and confronted Trish. The heated discussion lead to him finally breaking up with her. [X-Men Prime, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #323]
Beast‘s work on the Legacy Virus cure became almost an obsession. 
He locked himself into his lab and work on his notes for days non-stop. Suddenly, an outside force hacked into his computers and finished some of the formulas. Curious, Hank investigated and the trail led to the Brand Corporation, which had been abandoned for years. Inside the building, Hank was captured by his doppelganger, the so-called Dark Beast (Hank McCoy from the timeline known as Age of Apocalypse, who then took his place in the X-Men, in order to hide from Mister Sinister. The Beast was bricked up inside a room, held in place by titanium bands, and given only a meager supply of water, just in case that the Dark Beast would need to pry more data out of his head. [X-Men Unlimited (1st series) #10]
When Onslaught confronted the X-Men, McCoy revealed himself to the near invincible foe and joined his cause. In their search for McCoy's Dark Descendants, X-Factor found and freed the real Beast from his prison. He then helped to fight Onslaught and rejoined the X-Men. [X-Factor (1st series) #125-126]
The experience of the long weeks of imprisonment made Hank reevaluate the important things in life and he quickly called Trish to apologize for his harsh behavior. Using an image inducer, he met with her in Central Park, where they made up with each other and renewed their relationship. [X-Men (2nd series) #57]
Somewhat later, while they were shopping for Christmas presents, a group of X-Men were abducted to the Shi’Ar Galaxy to help in the battle against the invading Phalanx and keep them from destroying the entire Imperium. Among this team were Hank and Trish. Despite facing impossible odds, the mutants won and, after a celebration, they returned to earth. The time they spent in space was the happiest for Hank and Trish, as neither one’s duties could come between them. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #341-347]
Returned from the journey, the X-Men reunited with the rest of the team that had faced the Zero Tolerance troops. Hank helped to rebuild the mansion and to get new members, like Cecilia Reyes and Maggott settled in, but finally he took a leave of absence to dedicate his time to search for a Legacy cure at Muir Island.
Months later, some time after the Gathering of the Twelve, Beast asked his old friend Iceman to help him secretly enter the island nation of Genosha, as Hank wanted to study the many Legacy infected mutates. While they were there, the High Evolutionary released his anti-mutation wave, and they were trapped without powers in the war-ravaged country. With the aid of Magneto, Hank and Bobby escaped and joined forces with the rest of the scattered X-Men. 
Hank filled in his team what they had discovered on Genosha; not only did the Evolutionary’s tampering switch off the x-factor gene, but ultimately it would cause the entire DNA to destabilize, resulting in the worldwide death of the mutant population. To prevent this, the powerless X-Men raided the Evolutinary's satellite, disabled the mutation field and defeated Sinister, who had been secretly manipulating the High Evolutionary. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #379, X-Men (2nd series) #99, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #380]
About six months later, Beast and a few other X-Men responded to a summons by Gambit to rendezvous in Venice, Italy. There, they battled against a group of Neo known as the Shockwave Riders. The team stayed together as a team of X-Men separate from the main branch, but not before long merged back into the main team and Hank continued his research. During a battle with the Brotherhood, Moira MacTaggert came across a cure for the Legacy Virus, inspired by Mystique’s irresponsible manipulation of a virus strang. Tragically, she had been mortally wounded but managed to transfer her knowledge to Xavier before passing on. [X-Men (2nd series) #108]
Soon afterwards, Storm decided that the recent discovery of the 13 Diaries of Destiny required attention. She did not trust Charles Xavier with the power contained in the future predictions and, instead, gathered a select group of X-Men to aid her in searching for the diaries: Beast, Rogue, Bishop, Psylocke, Thunderbird, and Sage. Most of them left Westchester, quietly, in the dead of night, and cut all ties to their former colleagues, except Wolverine, who would act as a liaison. [X-Men (2nd series) #109]
The Beast stayed behind, to design the cure for the Legacy Virus, based on Moira's notes. However, the cure had to be released into the atmosphere in the same manner the virus originally was: through the death of a mutant. Beast resolved to find another method of curing the virus, but Colossus heroically sealed himself into the medilab, and sacrificed his life to release the cure. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #390]
After mourning, Beast too left Xavier’s school and met with Storm’s team to begin their quest with a visit to Valencia, Spain. They came into conflict with the country's own Guardia Civil and also a mysterious man known as Vargas, who killed Psylocke and seriously wounded Beast. Hank was only saved when Sage jumpstarted his latent healing abilities, which also foreshadowed a further mutation. Beast’s injuries forced him to return to the mansion, as Storm considered him a security risk for the rest of her team. [X-Treme X-Men (1st series) #2-4]
